Sound, sophisticated cultural analysis sure to spark a debate.
Civilization, for all its wonders and advantages, is destined to collapse due to its nature, writes Ophuls in this meticulously argued treatise.
Using the fall of Roman civilization as both example and metaphor—the title is part of a quote from Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776)—Ophuls discusses the physical and human limitations inherent to any society. He identifies four basic biophysical factors and two human factors as being the deciding variables in determining when a civilization passes its peak and enters its decline; he explains how and why these factors not only lead to a civilization’s collapse, but how the nature of these factors works against developing viable solutions to the problems they present. Ophuls takes a multidisciplinary approach to constructing his arguments, drawing on concepts and copious sources from the sciences, political theory, historical research and literature to synthesize an argument that pleads for humanity to take a long view toward the use and preservation of resources. The writing is clear and succinct in this politico-historical analysis, and the logic of Ophuls’ arguments is patiently built, with careful thought and copious citations offered as support. However, not every point in Ophuls’ sophisticated theoretical structure is without a weakness. His arguments on culture and its apparent limitations depend too closely on a monocultural viewpoint, and one chapter displays a curious misunderstanding of certain aspects of the scientific method and its attendant viewpoints. Furthermore, although technology is discussed as a cultural force, scant attention is given to the role of transformative technologies—the telephone, TV and the Internet, for example—in how a culture develops and changes. Also, some readers may take issue with the inherent moral and political conservatism Ophuls displays in his discussions of moral decay and human limitation. Despite these flaws, as well as the lack of a prescriptive conclusion, Ophuls’ clear writing, thorough research and elegant logic make his treatise a thoughtful, discussion-provoking work.
Sound, sophisticated cultural analysis sure to spark a debate.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479243143
Page Count: 116
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.
Rootin’-tootin’ history of the dry-gulchers, horn-swogglers, and outright killers who populated the Wild West’s wildest city in the late 19th century.
The stories of Wyatt Earp and company, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and Geronimo and the Apache Wars are all well known. Clavin, who has written books on Dodge City and Wild Bill Hickok, delivers a solid narrative that usefully links significant events—making allies of white enemies, for instance, in facing down the Apache threat, rustling from Mexico, and other ethnically charged circumstances. The author is a touch revisionist, in the modern fashion, in noting that the Earps and Clantons weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular culture has made them out to be. For example, Wyatt and Bat Masterson “took the ‘peace’ in peace officer literally and knew that the way to tame the notorious town was not to outkill the bad guys but to intimidate them, sometimes with the help of a gun barrel to the skull.” Indeed, while some of the Clantons and some of the Earps died violently, most—Wyatt, Bat, Doc Holliday—died of cancer and other ailments, if only a few of old age. Clavin complicates the story by reminding readers that the Earps weren’t really the law in Tombstone and sometimes fell on the other side of the line and that the ordinary citizens of Tombstone and other famed Western venues valued order and peace and weren’t particularly keen on gunfighters and their mischief. Still, updating the old notion that the Earp myth is the American Iliad, the author is at his best when he delineates those fraught spasms of violence. “It is never a good sign for law-abiding citizens,” he writes at one high point, “to see Johnny Ringo rush into town, both him and his horse all in a lather.” Indeed not, even if Ringo wound up killing himself and law-abiding Tombstone faded into obscurity when the silver played out.
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21458-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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